Mission attorney, former bank chairman, pleads guilty to wire fraud charges
A Mission attorney and former bank chairman pleaded guilty to wire fraud a day before jurors were to be selected for his trial, federal prosecutors said.
Rogelio “Roy” Ibañez Jr., 46, admitted to defrauding customers of Southern Star Title Company, the McAllen company he owned. He had faced an 11-count federal indictment that accused him of improperly taking more than $695,000 from several companies he either owned or managed.
Ibañez was former chairman of McAllen-based Bank of South Texas. His side business, Southern Star Title Co., he conducted real estate closings for buyers and sellers of homes. The title company money was kept in escrow accounts until property sales closed.
Prosecutors had accused him of ordering employees at his law firm to illegally take more than $544,000 from Southern Star’s escrow account to fund other businesses, including a property investment firm called Santo Andrei Ltd.
Ibañez admitted Thursday he bilked $40,000 from a title company escrow account to be transferred to his own law office.
Ibañez also stood accused of allegations of theft associated with his legal work.
The attorney also closed other real estate deals — apart from Southern Star’s business — and agreed to hold proceeds from those sales as to defer taxes.
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service allows owners of investments to defer paying taxes on sales if the money is re-invested in another property within 180 days. The owner cannot touch the funds and the initial sale must be coordinated with a designated intermediary managing a trust account. The arrangement is known as a 1031 Exchange.
A jury for Ibañez’s trial was set to be selected in U.S. District Court in Houston today.
U.S. District Judge David Hittner ordered Ibañez to surrender his license to practice law. Ibañez also agreed to never again serve as a fiduciary, trustee, agent or representative to any employee benefit plan covered by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
Ibañez, a former candidate for House District 41, now faces up to 20 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine and an order to repay his victims. Sentencing in the case is set for Oct. 7 in Houston.
Ibañez still faces state theft charges, as well, as part of a McAllen police investigation that alleged he stole $300,000 from Y.D.A. Investments, once a local real estate firm that had hired him serve as an intermediary to conduct a tax deferment plan on a $1 million property sale in February 2009.
A pretrial hearing in that case is set for next month in the 430 th state District Court.
Ibañez remains free on bond in both cases.
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Jared Taylor covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4439.
